LOGINOLIVIA It was a small laugh, kind of rusty, like something that hadn't been used in a long time… but it was real, and it moved across his face and made him look, for just a moment, like someone I remembered from a long time ago. Someone from before everything went wrong.From the doorway, Axiel was no longer pretending the cough was a cough."I'm going to accept it," I said, "and I'm going to make my own changes. Real ones. Not adjustments to the existing structure — a genuine rebuild from the ground up. New resource strategy, new alliance approach, new internal policies. The council will advise but they will not override me. Everything gets examined." I looked at my father directly. "All of it. Including things that have been done a certain way for thirty years simply because they've been done a certain way for thirty years.""Yes," he said, still recovering from the laugh. "Yes. Anything you need.""Good." I stood up, and he looked momentarily startled. "But not today.""Not—""I
OLIVIAThe drive back to the main pack grounds felt different in the morning.Yesterday, coming in, everything had looked like a wound… the peeling paint and the overgrown paths and the hollow-eyed pack members had landed on me like evidence in a case I was still deciding whether to take. This morning, with proper sleep and Axiel's eggs and the particular clarity that comes from having actually made a decision, it looked different.Not better, exactly. The problems were all still there, plain as ever in the early light — a loose shutter hanging off the community hall, a fence line that needed replacing, a garden that wanted serious attention. Nothing had changed overnight.But it looked like a list now instead of a verdict.*That needs fixing. That needs replacing. That needs someone who actually cares to spend three hours with it and a set of tools.*Manageable problems. Hard, expensive, time-consuming, emotionally loaded… but manageable.I'd spent the drive making mental notes, and
AXIELThe pack grounds were quieter now, the last lights going out in the windows as I crossed back toward my chambers. Overhead the sky was clear and I stopped for a moment and looked up at them.Two months I'd been living in this place, watching it slowly come apart and holding the whole operation together. Two months of careful conversations and long evenings and learning which elders were reachable and which were calcified beyond help. Two months of not knowing if any of it would work.And today Olivia Hunter had walked back through those gates and in the space of an afternoon had looked at a seven-year-old boy on a fence post and shaken his hand like a promise.Yeah. She was going to say yes.I walked back inside, and she was exactly where I'd left her… one hand tucked under her cheek, the covers pulled to her shoulder, breathing slow and even.I gently carried her to my room, placed her on the and laid beside her.I kept to my side, but the moment I settled against the pillow Ol
AXIELShe was asleep.I noticed the exact moment it happened… the way her breathing changed, slowing and deepening, the slight release of tension across her shoulders that had been there all day like something she'd been carrying and hadn't been able to put down. One moment she was watching the film with that expression she had… and then her head drifted, and then she was simply gone.Her head was on my shoulder.I stayed very still.I was aware that I was smiling in a way that probably looked ridiculous, and I was equally aware that there was nobody here to see it, so I let myself have it anyway. She's here.After everything… after months of living in a deteriorating pack and having difficult conversations with a dying Alpha and navigating the very delicate question of how to reach a woman who had every justifiable reason to want nothing to do with anything connected to the situation… she was here. In my space. Asleep on my shoulder, with the film still playing softly in the backgro
OLIVIAHe drove us off the main pack grounds to a smaller cluster of residential buildings on the territory's north edge… newer construction than the main residence, less grand but better maintained. He parked and led me to the second floor of the end unit, and when he opened the door I stopped in the doorway for a moment.Okay. He hadn't been exaggerating.It was warm, first of all… genuinely warm, with soft lighting. He'd rearranged the furniture into something that actually made sense for the space. There were books stacked on the side table and a decent rug under the coffee table and curtains that matched, which given what I'd seen of the rest of the pack's current state of resources seemed almost miraculous."Did you just… bring all of this?" I asked, stepping inside."Some of it. Some I found in the pack's storage." He shrugged out of his jacket and hung it by the door. "There's a lot of decent furniture buried in that storage building on the west side. Nobody's been using any
OLIVIAAxiel was waiting in the hallway outside, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed."How'd it go?" he asked."He wants me to take over as Alpha."Axiel blinked. "Well. That's... not a small ask.""No. It is not." I started walking and he fell into step beside me easily, matching my pace. "He's also in worse shape than I thought. The famine is real, the pack numbers are down, and half their alliances have dissolved." I glanced at him sideways. "You knew all of this when you came to get me.""I knew some of it.""Axiel.""I knew most of it," he amended. "But I also knew that if I led with *your father's pack is in famine and falling apart and he wants you to take over as Alpha,* you might have said no before you'd seen it for yourself.""You were probably right," I admitted. "I'm still slightly annoyed.""Noted."We walked in silence for a moment, down the corridor toward the main entrance. Through the windows, I could see the pack grounds… the overgrown paths, the building
OLIVIAI honestly didn’t know why I agreed to let him come upstairs.The second the elevator doors closed, regret hit me so hard I almost pressed the emergency stop button just to kick him out. By the time we reached my floor, I was already silently cursing myself in three different languages.The
OLIVIAI didn’t know how to respond to what he just said, so I just remained mute.His lips moved down my neck again, slower this time, hungrier, and I felt his fingers slide beneath my shirt, lifting it inch by inch. Heat flooded through me, my breath catching in my throat as he pressed me gently
OLIVIAI looked him straight in the eyes.And even though my heart was beating too fast… even though his hand on my arm made something inside me shake… even though part of me wanted to fall apart right there… I forced my voice to stay steady.“Logan,” I said quietly. “I feel nothing. So please… can
OLIVIAI reached the boat first, and Ryan’s uncle was right behind me. He stepped in front of me and stretched his hand out so I could climb in safely. I took it, letting him help me up, and managed a tired smile. “Thank you.”“You’re welcome, dear,” he replied gently.Once I was inside, I turned







